NEW DELHI: A meticulous parliamentarian, railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal didn't seem too nervous before his maiden budget. But he did quickly glance through the list of business, as the Lok Sabha dispensed with routine pursuits, to check when it would be his turn.
Just then, Bansal realized he needed to fix his lapel mike. Soon the wire was neatly concealed under his tunic while the wooden support on which his bulky leather-bound speech was to rest was checked. He was ready.
His quiet style belies it, but Bansal has been around. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1984 and is a four-term Lok Sabha MP. But if his moment of arrival was a bit delayed, the Chandigarh MP was more than ready for it on Tuesday.
In keeping with his serious mien, Bansal's speech was high on substance and low on flourish apart from a few poetical references, which, while an improvement on Mamata Banerjee's offerings, weren't inspirational.
The workman-like approach showed in his attention to balancing finances and his promise not to announce trains at the expense of services and safety - a clear break from predecessors like Lalu Prasad and Banerjee.
His words would be reassuring for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who Bansal consulted on more than a few occasions ahead of the railway budget. The message of financial discipline and focus on infrastructure building sets the tone for Thursday's general budget.
The uproar in the House, triggered by Trinamool Congress MPs protesting about projects in West Bengal not finding a mention took Bansal by surprise, but he might have realized that in a pre-election year this was not unexpected.
The Trinamool plan to highlight "neglect" of West Bengal was quickly taken up by Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party MPs raising slogans about their own grievances. Soon some 30-odd MPs crowded the well, shouting him down.
Realizing the futility of carrying on with the budget speech, parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath and finance minister P Chidambaram advised Bansal to wrap up proceedings. The minister made a quick count of new express trains and announced the total.
He had already made clear the government's intent to prioritize 347 projects, again a change from Banerjee's empire building that included schools, colleges and hospitals.
The sting in the budget lay in the minister's announcement that fuel hikes can mean a revision in fares for passengers and freight twice a year. But that was not now.
Budget 2013 > Rail Budget 2013 > Economic Survey 2013
Bansalonomics: High on substance, low on flourish
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Bansalonomics: High on substance, low on flourish
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Bansalonomics: High on substance, low on flourish
